Panic Attacks And Anxiety Disorder – How To Overcome Them
We live in a stressful world these days, and so it’s hardly a surprise that so many people suffer from acute forms of anxiety. In fact, a significant amount of people need to find ways of overcoming panic attacks on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I had this problem also, and the doctors could do absolutely nothing to stop my anxiety attacks. I found a solution myself though, and it involved regaining control of my thoughts and mind – no prescription drugs were needed at all.
So, how did I come up with the solution that stopped my anxiety episodes? Well, let me first say that I’m not a doctor or psychologist, or a medical practitioner of any sort for that matter. I was just a desperate suffer of panic attacks that was determined to try anything to stop them. I set about reading and researching as much as I could on the topic, and tried out various methods, such as breathing techniques and thinking happy thoughts. The problem was that nearly all of the methods that I came across were coping techniques, which would never solve the problem outright. Eventually though, my persistence paid off, and I came across a method that stops anxiety episodes altogether, by really getting to the root of the problem.
The key point in the method was to understand that anxious thoughts pop up in the minds of everybody, not just panic disorder sufferers. So, the important question is then what makes us sufferers different from those non-sufferers? They don’t have the same reaction as we do to the same situations. When an anxious thought comes to our mind, our body reacts to it intensely. And when our body reacts to it so strongly, we feel the need to examine that thought even closer, which makes our bodies react even stronger. The people who don’t have anxiety attacks symptoms don’t examine the thought so closely because they don’t react that much to it. And when they don’t react much to it, they don’t examine it closely! See the “cycle of fear” that makes the attacks so persistent and strong? Event A happens, event B happens because of it; and then event A gets stronger because of event B. What you need to do is break this cycle.
To break the cycle of fear that arises from a single anxious thought, you need to follow a three step process: label – watch – proceed. When the anxious thought first arises, you need to label it as such, literally tell yourself that “this is an anxious thought”. Don’t try to ignore it, instead confront it. Then, watch and be aware of the reactions that your body is giving, and know that you have the power to control them, just as you control your reactions when you have happy thoughts. Finally, proceed with what you were doing prior to the anxious thought. It’s done, it’s over with, it was an insignificant part of your day.
Doing this a couple of times will help you tone down your reactions to the anxious thoughts and will greatly help you in overcoming panic attacks.
If you would like more information on overcoming panic attacks, be sure to visit my blog. I have been a sufferer and have managed to cure panic attacks.